Faith & Reason – Page 11

Will Catholics be forced into pariah status by aggressive secularism?

The Witherspoon Institute published an address, “At the Door of the Temple: Religious Freedom and the New Orthodoxy” by Philip Tartaglia on June 27, 2012. How are the challenges of faith and reason pressing us to think and act more boldly in the face of limitations being placed upon religious liberty? The Most Reverend Philip Tartaglia is a responsible thinker and provokes all of us to do something that is reasonable.

The new orthodoxy of secularism fails to understand that the virtues generated by religious freedom underpin and encourage a healthy democracy.

When I was consecrated a bishop in 2005, I was not fretting about religious freedom in Scotland or in the United Kingdom. Yet just six and a half years later, I can say with a concerned and fearful realism that the loss of religious freedom is now arguably the most serious threat that the Catholic Church and all people of faith in this country are facing. The way this issue unfolds will determine how the Church will present itself to society for the foreseeable future. Will the Catholic Church–and other religious bodies and groups–have the space to adhere to, express, and teach their beliefs in the public square? Or will these basic elements of religious freedom be denied, driving the Church and other religious bodies to the margins of society, if not actually underground?

Continue reading Will Catholics be forced into pariah status by aggressive secularism?

Kleponis book tackles porn as epidemic

Peter Kleponis has published a book dealing with pornography as a “major epidemic.” A well respected clinical therapist outside Philadelphia. He’s worked laity and clergy alike and has addressed groups of clergymen like the Archdiocese of New York on this issue in the past. He works for the Institute for Marital Healing.

The CNA story is here.

Not doctrine, but power: recent tensions in the Church

We need perspective, we need a good review of what’s happening in the press regarding the state of Catholicism. At least I do. The ever-well spoken George Weigel takes on us on a brief journey….

The American mainstream media, reflecting deeper currents in American culture, typically treats “religion” as a private lifestyle choice: a personal option one may exercise to make sense out of life (and death) through certain rituals embodied in communities. That the “choice” in question has anything to do with adherence to the truth, as one is grasped and transformed by that truth; that those rituals embody religious truth in a unique way that links the believer to the very life of God; that those communities are formed by, and accountable to, truths that can be rationally explicated in a body of knowledge called “theology” — say what? To treat religion as a lifestyle choice leaves little room for the very concept of “truth,” unless it be the anorexic postmodern notion of “your truth” and “my truth” (which means that Khalid Sheikh Muhammad’s “truth” is just as much “truth” as Pope Benedict XVI’s). In the sandbox of self-absorption that is so much of postmodern culture, there is little or no room for the truth.

Perhaps we should take a hint from a recent Church Council on this matter:

“Theology relies on the written Word of God, taken together with sacred Tradition, as on a permanent foundation. By this Word it is most firmly strengthened and constantly rejuvenated, as it searches out, under the light of faith, the full truth stored up in the mystery of Christ.” (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation)

Read the whole article here.

Georeg Weigel

“Don’t Know Much about Theology …”

National Review online

June 12, 2012

Modern Science, Ancient Faith: Portsmouth Institute set

The Portsmouth Institute is set to begin its third year of work from June 22-24, 2012, with the theme of “Modern Science, Ancient Faith.” The Institute is located at Portsmouth Abbey and School (Portsmouth, RI).

The speakers include Rt. Rev. Dom James Wiseman (St. Anselm’s Abbey, Washington, DC), R. Dom Paschal Scotti (Portsmouth Abbey), William Dembski, John Haught, Kenneth Miller, B. Joseph Semmes, Michael Ruse, Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP.

Prayer, fraternity and time to think are hallmarks of the Portsmouth Institute. Situated at the beautiful Portsmouth Abbey on the Narrangansett Bay, who could not love expanding one’s thinking on faith and science.

Visit the website noted above for more information of the conference, the Abbey and School.

Previous Institutes:

2009 The Catholic William F. Buckley, Jr.

2010 Newman & the Intellectual Tradition

2011 The Catholic Shakespeare?

Join the work being done…

America Magazine appoints Matt Malone 14th editor in chief

The century old magazine edited by the Jesuits, America Magazine, has a new editor in chief, Father Matthew Malone, SJ. He’s the 14th editor, and the youngest in the publication’s history.

America is a mixed bag of journal opinion when it comes to covering the Church, it mostly pushes the envelop on matters that are not up for debate: it sheds more smoke and than light. In many ways it seems as though America has abandoned it’s prestigious and valuable nature of journalism as a Catholic publication rooted firmly in Ignatian spirituality. I pray that Saint Ignatius and all Jesuit saints and blesseds inspire Father Matt in his new mission. I certainly wish him the best.

America’s press release is here.

Our First, Most Cherished Freedom — the US Bishops speak up for religious liberty

Today, the US
bishops issued a call to action to defend religious liberty and urged laity to
protect the First Freedom of the Bill of Rights. No doubt there is considerable consternation surrounding
the proposed usurpation of our legal freedom of religion: clearly the US
President has forgotten the first clause of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof….”

The statement,
“Our First, Most Cherished Freedom,” aims to inform and to encourage the entire
Christian Church in North America –and beyond–in understanding what the Church teaches on religious liberty. Moreover, the US bishops want to encourage a rightful role in
defending the first of our American liberties. Being Catholic –or a person of faith– does not mean that we give up a sense of reasonableness and citizenship. The bishops published this work in order
to reassert their voice in the public square, thus bridging the gap of faith and reason
for a coherent national debate on matters of concern. Religion cannot be
relegated to the closet. Like most documents of the Church, this one also hopes
not only to impart information but also to form Catholics (indeed, all
Christians) as faithful citizens. It is our Christian belief that religious liberty is God-given and is not
imparted by our elected officials. “Our First, Most Cherished Freedom” is a
document of the Bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty.

Continue reading Our First, Most Cherished Freedom — the US Bishops speak up for religious liberty

Portsmouth Institute announces the 2012 conference: “Modern Science, Ancient Faith”

The Portsmouth Institute is set to begin its third year of work from June 22-24, 2012, with the theme of “Modern Science, Ancient Faith.”

The Institute is located at Portsmouth Abbey and School (Portsmouth, RI).

Check the website for more information.

CDF updating its files

The Pope’s office which handles matters pertaining to the Faith, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is updating itself. Well, it’s updating its presentation of the Faith as it pertains to the documents it produces. The new “look” of a webpage is the same dull thing, but documentation is being added in more categories and languages. They’re aiming at using the web more effectively for the sake of teaching Truth. Cardinal Levada’s intention is to provide a wider distribution of the work of the CDF. Blessings!

The new website can be found here.

BC Jesuits get backbone in teaching theology

The Jesuit-run School of Theology and Ministry has had a priest on their faculty who’s refused to function as a Catholic until he gets an adequate explanation as to why women are not ordained as Catholic priests. He wrote to the Cardinal stating his position. John Shea, professor of pastoral care and counseling, now leaving his position because of dissent from Church teaching. Thanks be to God. The Jesuits have tolerated this act of scandal for too long. Shea’s work in the classroom and beyond is not in line with his role as a professor who trains men for priesthood and the laity for ministry. He’s not to pose his thinking as Catholic teaching nor is he asked by the Church to teach students for priesthood and ministry in dissenting theology. Recall: Saint Ignatius of Loyola asks an attitude of “thinking with the Church” not dissenting from the truth of Jesus Christ and His Church.

The Jesuits at BC and when Weston Jesuit School of Theology before subsumed into Boston College existed, have long accepted and promoted professors who not only challenge Church teaching but openly reject the teaching authority of the Church as a matter of pride. Thinking with the Church was no longer an accepted method of “doing” theology. When I was at WJST we had several Jesuits under investigation for their divergent teaching. Each one of them saw ecclesial investigation as a badge of honor; their investigation was act of imperialism by the Vatican. One Jesuit priest actually said that not dissent from the Church is a sin against the Holy Spirit and another said that the Society of Jesus is the loyal opposition to the Church. Really.

Good for BC, but I doubt the Jesuits are doing this because Father Shea is a dissenter and harming the formation of students.

The story’s here.